REPORT: Ted Cruz smoked weed as a teenager

Sen. Ted Cruz's (R-Texas) office reportedly told the Daily Mail on Tuesday that he "foolishly experimented" with the drug as a teenager.

"Teenagers are often known for their lack of judgment, and Sen. Cruz was no exception," a Cruz spokesperson told the paper. "When he was a teenager, he foolishly experimented with marijuana. It was a mistake, and he's never tried it since."

Cruz's office did not immediately respond to a request for confirmation from Business Insider.

The admission comes days after an in-depth Boston Globe profile revealed former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush's apparent fondness for marijuana while attending an elite private school. One of Bush's former peers described in detail how Bush would smoke hash and listen to Steppenwolf.

"I drank alcohol and I smoked marijuana when I was at Andover," Bush said. "It was pretty common."

Both Bush and Cruz are seen as leading Republican presidential hopefuls.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky), another likely 2016 candidate, also recently hinted at his own youthful indiscretions. In an interview with a local Kentucky television station last December, Paul reportedly answered a question about past marijuana use by copping to past "mistakes."

"Let's just say I wasn't a choir boy when I was in college and that I can recognize that kids make mistakes," Paul told told Louisville WHAS11. "And I can say I made mistakes when I was a kid."